The Palace of Forty Pillars

Wry, tender, and formally innovative, Armen Davoudian's debut poetry collection, The Palace of Forty Pillars, tells the story of a self estranged from the world around him as a gay adolescent, an Armenian in Iran, and an immigrant in America. It is a story darkened by the long shadow of global tragedies--the Armenian genocide, war in the Middle East, the specter of homophobia. With masterful attention to rhyme and meter, these poems also carefully witness the most intimate encounters: the awkward distance between mother and son getting ready in the morning, the delicate balance of power between lovers, a tense exchange with the morality police in Iran. In Isfahan, Iran, the eponymous palace has only twenty pillars--but, reflected in its courtyard pool, they become forty. This is the gamble of Davoudian's magical, ruminative poems: to recreate, in art's reflection, a home for the speaker, who is unable to return to it in life.

Author: Armen Davoudian

Publisher: Tin House Books

Publication Date: Mar 19, 2024

Number of Pages: NA pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1959030361

ISBN-13: 9781959030362